Going green or virtue signalling?

Expedio has just placed our first order for a solar panel installation. Perhaps we could be accused of being a little slow in demonstrating our green credentials.

However, we have been known to be a little cynical at times of some of the virtue signalling that goes on around climate change, green energy and the rest.

It’s hard to reconcile shipping in Indonesian coal to burn in order to make electricity to power electric cars. Why not just burn petrol?

At the same time , we try to have an open mind to new ways of thinking. We can always install cycle racks and e vehicle chargers for our tenants if there is demand.

One of the leg-ropes (which shows our rural upbringing – for urban dwellers a legrope is what you put on a cow to stop it kicking over your bucket when you are milking, or stripping it, by hand. The legrope holds the leg back) holding back investment in alternative energy in commercial and industrial buildings in New Zealand is that generally the tenant pays for energy use. If the tenant is paying the power bill, many landlords are going to question why the landlord should install solar panels which are a capital investment (i.e. no tax write-off) , benefit the tenant in terms of power savings, but which will unlikely be recognised in terms of increased rents.

Except of course if we are doing our little bit for the environment. And possibly helping our tenant out by saving them a few dollars off their power bill.

As with many new forms of technology, there is often a beat-up in terms of the numbers. We even see it in our own industry with some of the touted returns for investment. Perhaps those returns will actually be achieved when Jupiter next aligns with Mars.

But we wanted to find out if the payback periods touted for solar installations are in any way realistic. And the only way to do that in real life is to pay for an installation and see if it works.

So that is what we have done.

We’ll keep you informed as to whether we have wasted our money (but signalled how environmentally caring we are! ) or have made any miniscule difference to global warming.

Watch this space.